Bearing for shafts



(No Model.)

C. E. HYDE. BEARING POR SHAFTS.

Patented Nov. 5. 1889.

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UNITED STATES 'PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. HYDE, OF BATH, 'MAINE BEARING FOR sHAFTs.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 414,221, dated November 5, 1889.

Application filed May 7, 1889. Serial No. 309,857. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. HYDE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bath, in the county of Sagadahoc and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bearings for Shafts; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to engineering, and more especially to marine steam-engines. Its obj eet, primarily, is to obviate the practical difficulties heretofore experienced with the journal-bearings of marine-engine shafts; but it is applicable, also, to bearings for all kinds of shafts and shafting. The weight of a shaft is carried by the lower brass in the bearing, which consequent-ly wears away fast-er than the upper brass and lets the shaft settle out of line.` Moreover, in marine engines the bearings of the crank-shaft wear faster than those of the line-shaft and sternshaft, which increases the difficulty of preserving their alignment. It is therefore necessary to frequently examine the lower brasses, especially those near the cranks, and to adjust them vertically, or scrape or rebabbitt them to make up for the wear, and realign the shaft. In the modern triple-expansion engine and other forms of multiple-crank engine it is in many cases impossible to remove the lower brasses without taking down the connecting-rods and hoisting the shaft out of the pillow-blocks. This is a tedious and laborious operation and, when done at sea, a dangerous one. The brass is usually square on the outside to fit the recess in the pillow-block, which prevents it from being removed by turning it around on the shaft, and the close proximity of the cranks and pillow-blocks prevents the brasses from being slid out endwise from the pillow-blocks. It is necessary, however, to retain the square shape of the brass to enable it to be readily adjusted vertically by means of shims inserted between the bottom of the brass and the bottom of its seat in the pillowblock, while the necessity for economizing room and other reasons forbid placing the cranks far enough away from the bearings to permit the endwise removal of the brasses. My invention obviates all these difficulties and enables any one or more of the brasses to be readily removed for rebabbitting or scraping without disturbing the shaft, and yet provides for their vertical adjustment by means of shims:

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan view of a part of the bed of a triple-expansion engine, showing the relative location of the cranks and pillow-blocks, the cap and upper brass being removed from one of the latter. Fig. 2 is a half cross-section half-elevation of one of the pillow-blocks embodying my invention. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 4t is an under side perspective View, of the lower brass.

The same letters refer to the same parts in all the figures.

The bed-plate A is provided with pillowblocks B for the crank-shaft C, the bearings being located close to the cranks, as shown, for well-known reasons. This construction, as already pointed out, prevents the endwise removal of the brasses.

My improved bearing consists of the ordinary pillow-block B, provided with the usual fiat seat l) and parallel-faced jaws b', forming a recess to receive the brasses. Instead of a solid brass, I provide a cast-iron chair D, fitted int-o the pillow-block. I employ any convenient means of adjusting the chair vel'- tically, but prefer to use ordinary shims, and

-of the chair has a semi-cylindrical hollow to receive the lower brass E, which is a semicylindrical bushing fitted smoothly to its place in the chair and having a fiange c at l each end to prevent it from accidental displacement in a lengthwise direction.

The cap F of the bearing may be fitted with an ordinary brass or with a semi-cylindrical upper brass E', similar to the lower brass E, the two brasses together forming the cylindrical bearing for the journal of the shaft. The brasses are kept from turning in their IOO seats in the chair D and cap F lby means of metal liners G inserted between the meeting faces of the brasses, chair, and cap. Bolts H pass through the flanges f of the cap and down through the pillow-block, being let half into the block and half into the cap, liners, and chair, as shown. This prevents the liners and chair from moving endwise in the pillowblock, but does not interfere with their vertical adjustment.

Vhenever it is desired to examine the lower brass, the nuts h are removed, the cap F and its brass E lifted out and the liners Gtaken up. The lower brass E can then be revolved around the shaft C by means of a spanner .applied to the notches e in the iiange e.

VV-hen the brass has come up on top of the shaft, it is free from the chair D and can be lifted out of the pillow-block, either by hand, or, if large and heavy, by suitable hoistingtackle attached to an eye I screwed into a threaded hole in the brass.

The same brass, or a new one, can be inserted into the chair by reversing the operation for its removal, slipping it around the shaft until its edges are even with the top of the chair, and then replacing the liners G, the brass E', and the cap F.

In order to cool the brasses, it has been customary to core them out and pump Y water through them. Such a construction would be i'mpracticable with my improved bearing7 and l haveaccordingly devised another mode of accomplishing the same purpose. ln'the outer face of the lower brass E is formed a groove e2, preferably zigzag, as shown, coursing back and forth along the brass from one .end to the other and back again. When the brass is placed in the chair, the groove forms with the adjacent face of the chair a continuous passage-way. A pipe K is inserted loosely through a hole in the lower part of the pillow-block and through the chair D, terminating at a point opposite the groove e2, and preferably near one end thereof. The pipe K is connectedwith a supply of water which is forced to traverse the groove e2, and escapes through a pipe K', inserted into the chair in the same way as pipe K. Both pipes, being loose in the pillow-block, can rise with the chair D when it is adjusted vertically.

This mode of cooling the bearing is applicable to the upper brass E', and also to connecting-rod and other bearings, giving eXcell lent results in practice. It will be seen that my bearing possesses marked advantages in the facility with which it can be examined and repaired. lt necessitates some extra work in fitting it up; but the worth of the composition saved by using a semi-cylindrical brass instead of a square onefmore than of cranks, collars, couplings, gear-wheels, beltpulleys, or other parts renders it impossible to remove the ordinary style of brasses without unshipping the shaft.

Having thus described my invention, whatl claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

l. A bearing for a shaft, provided with a vertically-movable chair having formed in its upper face a cylindrically-curved seat concentric with the shaft, and a removable brass fitting said seat, consisting of a segment of a cylindrical tube, substantially as described.

2. A shaft-bearing consisting of the combination, with a pillow-block, of a chair fitted to move vertically therein and having in its top a cylindrically-curved seat concentric with the shaft, a cylindrically-curved removable lower brass lifted within said seat, and a cap provided with an upper brass, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a pillow-block having a square recess, of a dat-bottomed chair fitted therein, a semi-cylindrical brass seated in a semi-cylindrical hollow in said chair and provided with notched end iianges, a cap extending down toward the chair, and liners inserted between the chair and the cap, substantially as described.

4c. The combination, with a bearing provided with a semi-cylindrical seat, of a semicylindrical brass seated therein having a groove formed in its outer face, and means IOO 

